


Lacking Notes

by reafterthought



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe, drabblechap, ffn challenge: diversity writing challenge, ffn challenge: mega prompts challenge, no death note, word count: 2999-5000 words
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:09:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22860784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reafterthought/pseuds/reafterthought
Summary: [AU] In a world without the Death Note, Light Yagami tries to change a world. He can only do so much without becoming the villain.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11
Collections: The DFC Challenge Collection





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for
> 
> Diversity Writing Challenge, g27 - fic that explores the psyche of someone who unintentionally killed someone  
> Mega Prompts Challenge, Quotes prompt #006 - "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." ― Albert Einstein

He's bored. He only pays class half a mind, and he lets the rest drift. The courtyard empty. The future is likewise empty.

Entrance exams are coming up but the threat has failed to make him buckle under their weight. The practice is too easy, too routine. The road to becoming a police officer is neatly paved and the only thing he can't do is make the clock tick faster.

People think unsavoury thoughts in the classroom. They whisper unsavoury things in the street on the way home.

Criminals go on destroying lives. In the span of one afternoon's homework, Kurou Otoharada kills six children before shooting himself in the head to avoid capture.

He doesn't know what his future self could have done but surely it would be more than waiting uselessly in front of the building for the man to leave his desperate advantage and crawl out.


	2. Chapter 2

He’s a fool.

The reality is that he’s human but he’s not thinking of it like that. He’s only stopped on the way home because he noticed a girl. Only stopped because she was surrounded, being dragged away, because there were hands on her jeans –

Only stopped because he noticed too much and was incapable of so much, and here was something right in front of him.

Only stopped because his sense of justice jumped the queue and launched before his sense of… well, sense.

And at least the element of surprise is on his side, because he’s punched the first person in the jaw before they react to him.

Except now he has three people left, and they’ve still got a hostage.

And punches, even from a lean teenager, are ineffective when he’s outmuscled and outnumbered.


	3. Chapter 3

He’s not lucky.

The police don’t come, drawn to the fighting like vigilant eyes should – but he knows, rationally, the police force is spread too thin and there are too many within it who’d rather fill their stomachs and wallets instead of do their duty to keep the peace.

A hero doesn’t come, guns blazing and powered up fists smashing the enemies away with a single super-critical hit. A victim doesn’t unlock hidden magical powers because he’s triggered the flag.

Reality is imperfect like that. He himself is the prime example: despite the folly he’d still leapt into the fray and he can only block one hit in four, one kick in four –

There are four assailants, after all, and he’s only been taught to fight fair, one on one.


End file.
